Author: Lois

Teach your church that any form of abuse is NEVER acceptable to God no matter who does it or how important the abuser is. – Diane Langberg, PhD on Twitter, March 7, 2020

I have been writing about sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church for awhile now and I am overwhelmed at the number of cases. There is an incredible number of women, men and children who have been sexually abused and I don’t know that I will ever be able to cover all of the stories- it is a daunting task and one which I’ve found to be quite draining. There are cases which hit the news, as well as an innumerable number that never did because they were not reported to police and therefore never prosecuted. There’s still more to write regarding all the unreported cases of child sexual abuse at Calvary Gospel Church in Madison, Wisconsin. There’s still more to write regarding reported and unreported cases of child sexual abuse at Landmark Tabernacle in Denver, Colorado. Both of these churches allegedly have cases spanning many years and both involve pastors that some would consider to be legacy names.

Back in August 2019 I wrote, “The United Pentecostal Church makes it quite clear in their yearly Manuals that if a person is guilty of committing immoral conduct regarding sexual matters, that they are not eligible to be licensed. If such happens while they hold license with them, their license is to be revoked and never reinstated. In addition, such people are not supposed to be ministering in any of their churches, whether or not they hold license. Yet despite what appears to be very clear directives, one discovers that for years there have been men holding license who have been immoral, as well as people preaching in their churches who have been immoral.”

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by others. The allegations all appear to be involving adults and not children. There have been no convictions or criminal arrests as the situations mentioned here appear to not have been reported to the police, or not reported while the statute of limitations was open, and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt. I have withheld sharing the man’s name at this point, until at least one victim comes forward publicly and names him. This is Part 33 of an ongoing series.)

And now since 2019, there have been murmurings as well as cryptic messages left on Facebook (see some of these below) that show there has been serious trouble brewing in the Western District of the United Pentecostal Church. Apparently, one of their licensed ministers, who is a pastor that married into a family whose name is a legacy in the organization, has been accused of multiple instances of sexually related charges. From the messages circulating on Facebook, people are tired of not seeing justice- they know that the UPCI is well aware of the charges and yet this man is permitted to retain his license and still delivers sermons. There are allegations of cover-ups by legacy family members, lying, deception and more.

When your husband had been proven guilty of sexual assault and sexual harassment, and has been unfaithful to you numerous times, has been forced to resign from his church by his organization for conduct unbecoming a minister and sexual misconduct, and you insist on staying at the church in a position of perceived authority so that you can continue to lie, cover-up and deceive the congregation, because you are desperate to protect your family name, the truth about your husbands resignation, and your paycheck.- February 12, 2020 Amber’s public Facebook post

When it comes to scandal in the church, which sadly does happen, it’s amazing the extent folks will do to cover things up. The real victims are maligned, God and His name is misused to claim spiritual authority. People that know better will change alliances to protect the guilty and the guilty will make themselves the victim. Watching it happen in real time is a learning experience. Legacies will crumble when it becomes about man/woman than it does God and people. – March 2, 2020 Randy’s public Facebook post

Yes sir and the sad part of all of it is that the people that are covering KNOW they hurting people. The ones who cry submission to authority are the very ones refusing to submit to THIER authority. Amazing that sometime district boards give deadlines for people to correct the lies, but even the district boards are defied. And the amazing thing is that instead of people gossiping and assuming pick up the phone and call the Western District board. How hard is that? Are they scared of truth? Aren’t you glad there a God that knows all and is the ultimate record keeper? – March 2, 2020 Daniel’s public Facebook comment in reply to Randy

There are some in the office because of their family name, they should not be in the position they are in. They misuse the authority they have been given and make the kingdom lose its appeal and taste. Though God will defend himself, it still angers me when there is such blatant lies and scandal. The scars and hurt that will be left will be there for years. I have seen many times churches having to shut down so that a renewal and time of healing can take place. – March 2, 2020 Robert’s public Facebook comment in reply to Randy

It is alleged that this minister from California was told to resign from the church (he is listed as pastor of more than one) by the Western District officials, who, after a trial in 2019, found him guilty of several sexually related charges. Yet as of the 2020 UPCI Directory, which was printed in January, as well as the UPCI online church locator in March, he is shown as a licensed ordained minister with his name listed as the pastor, though he is no longer mentioned as a District Presbyter, a position which was held for years.

If the information is accurate, I find this to be totally unacceptable due to the clearly stated rules in the UPCI Manual regarding ministers and sexual immorality. Let’s take a look at what it states. Under Article VII, Section 9 it says, “For the purpose of ministerial membership in the United Pentecostal Church International or for ministering in a United Pentecostal Church International church, immoral conduct shall be defined as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, incest, and/or any other sexual acts determined by the District Board to be perverted or immoral (Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9; I Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-28). 2. Any minister affiliated with our organization proven guilty of adultery or fornication, or committing any other immoral offense, shall forfeit his or her papers immediately. Immoral offense shall include sexual molestation of minors.”

It appears that one of the greatest temptations facing the ministry is sex. How does sexual purity relate to God’s requirements? Sexual immorality is clearly excluded by the requirements of ‘blameless, good report, good behaviour, just, holy, and husband of one wife.’ Again, a sexual sin is an obvious disqualification in light of all the Scriptures. – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward (an exclusive magazine for UPCI licensed ministers)

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only case in the UPCI where a minister has retained, or later received, license after immoral conduct. Is this man permitted to retain his license because he married into a well-known ‘name’ in the organization? Should ministers be treated with kid gloves because of their pedigree or how much money the church may contribute? Rather, shouldn’t those with a legacy be expected to be held to a high standard, considering how organizations tend to place these people on a pedestal and parade them around as examples to be followed? What does this legacy even mean when people discover abuses or cover-ups? Would it not be best to openly and properly handle any legacy case, considering that much more harm is caused to any legacy by not doing so, because at some point the truth will be discovered and made known? And what does this say to other former ministers whose licenses were properly revoked due to immorality?

Just as the church has authority to examine and approve ministerial candidates, so it has authority to remove someone from a ministerial position if he no longer meets God’s requirements. Actually the person disqualifies himself by his actions, and the church simply recognizes this fact. – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward

It wasn’t too difficult to determine the name of this pastor and it appears there are many within the United Pentecostal Church who know, including licensed ministers and their spouses, some of whom have spoken up about what is happening. There is no way in which this news didn’t go all the way up the chain of command in the organization. General Superintendent David Bernard, it appears that you may need to intervene and do what is right and in accordance with your Manual, and strip this individual of their license, not allowing the legacy family he married into sway you in your decision. People ARE watching.

August 6, 2020 Note: Now that it has been publicly posted by one of the alleged victims, I can share that this article is about John Shivers, who is married to one of the daughters of the late Kenneth Haney. See Part 2 & Part 3.

August 24, 2022 edit: Today the Stockton Record released an article about John Shivers. You must have a digital subscription to read it. See https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/2022/08/24/pastor-john-shivers-accused-sexual-assault-preaching-stockton-centro-vida-pentecostal-church/5695797001/

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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This is Part 32 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church. Ronald Terry Litz, now 82 years old and living in Glenn Heights, Texas, was born August 11, 1937 and at the time of his sex crimes he was married with three older children, and was the pastor of the Danville Apostolic Church, which was actually in Riverside near Danville. He was living at 702 Fifth Street in Riverside, Pennsylvania and had been the pastor for ten years. The sexual charges against him involved three different teenage boys. The church later became known as Landmark Apostolic Church and Kevin Schramm had been the pastor since May 2008. The name changed once again in the 2020s to Victory Life Church where Aaron Wright is currently the pastor in 2024.

Ronald Terry Litz, who has gone by his middle name for decades, was the vice-president of the 1963 24 member graduating class of ABI (Apostolic Bible Institute in Minnesota, a UPCI endorsed Bible college). That year, he and his wife, Martha May Litz, were the new Hobby Club Directors working under Mrs. S.G. Norris. (S.G. Norris was the college President.)

It is unknown to me when Litz obtained his United Pentecostal Church license as my older UPCI Directory collection is limited. He is not seen in the editions I have from the 50s and I have none from the 60s. As he was one of their Bible college graduates, one could guess that he may have received license in the 1960s. The 1972-73 Directory has him with a general license in Ohio and the 1975-76 Directory lists him as an ordained minister. There he was the pastor of the Lake Breeze Apostolic Church of Lorain (screen shot of a 1975 ad), a non-affiliated church. (Any church whose pastor is licensed by the UPCI is considered a UPCI church. They can go a step further and have a legal affiliation with the organization. This church did not.) I did find a 1971 ad from an Ohio church in the same town. I have a few directories from the 1980s, starting with 1981 where he is listed as living in Riverside, Pennsylvania and was the pastor of the Danville Apostolic Church, a non-affiliated church in Northumberland County.

I did find a mention of him and the church in a 1978 newspaper article, making him the pastor since at least that year. He is last seen in the 1987 Directory, where his wife was listed as the Ladies Auxiliary Secretary for the Pennsylvania District. In the late 1980s while Litz was pastor, Bill Woodruff, a 1986 ABI graduate, became the Youth Pastor, a Sunday School teacher and a church bus driver at the Danville Apostolic Church, though he did not hold license. After Litz was arrested, Harold I. Lloyd, a United Pentecostal minister with just a local license, became the acting pastor. He is no longer listed as a UPCI minister. No pastor is listed for the church in the 1988 UPCI Directory but in 1989, the church became affiliated while Seth Avery became the new pastor. He is now in Oklahoma.

The Pennsylvania newspapers started covering Terry Litz’s cases in September of 1987. He was 50 years old when arrested on September 3 and was out on $50,000 bail by the next day. He was arraigned on Friday, October 23, 1987 in Luzerne County, where he entered a not guilty plea and requested a jury trial. His crimes against two boys occurred at the United Pentecostal Church’s Pennsylvania District church camp in Fairmount Township between December 1986 and September 1987. This was in Red Rock in Luzerne County along Route 118. Terry Litz had taken the boys to the camp to help with maintenance chores, where he fondled them and engaged in oral and anal sex.

The two boys were members of the Danville Apostolic Church. Reports varied as to their ages, with one stating both were 15, another said they were 14 and one claimed they were 14 and 15. The charges, filed by the State Police, were involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and corruption of minors. Litz voluntarily resigned as a United Pentecostal minister soon after charges were filed. L. Daniel Garlitz was the Pennsylvania District Superintendent at this time and confirmed that Terry Litz had resigned as pastor and turned in his ministerial credentials. Litz’s wife and 18 year old daughter soon moved to Texas to live with Terry and Martha’s two other daughters.

On March 8, 1988, Terry Litz plead guilty to three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and five counts each of indecent assault and corruption of minors. He did this as part of a plea agreement that had been discussed with the families of both boys, where the District Attorney was to recommend that he only serve the sentence on one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. The other charges were to run concurrently with this. Whatever time he was to serve in this case, was to run concurrently with a case from Northumberland County. If the judge were to decline the District Attorney’s recommendations, Litz was free to withdraw his guilty pleas.

A sentencing date of May 25, 1988 was set. Michael Dennehy was his attorney, Ann Lokuta was the assistant district attorney and Gifford S. Cappellini, now deceased, was the judge. (See the March 9, 1988 article in PDF format.) In 1992 Lokuta became a judge and was removed from office in 2008 after charges were made against her in 2006 by the Judicial Conduct Board.

Your conduct will require confinement for further protection of young children in our community. Your actions have caused grave emotional consequences for the victims. You were an authority figure and took advantage of young children. – Judge Gifford S. Cappellini in sentencing Ronald Terry Litz

There was a separate criminal case in Northumberland County, where in another plea arrangement Terry Litz plead guilty on February 4, 1988 to three counts of corrupting the morals of minors. Sentencing was scheduled for May but was later postponed until June. The original charges, filed by Riverside Patrolman Steve Watkins, involved three counts of the corruption of morals of a minor and three counts of indecent assault for the oldest victim and one count of each of the same charges for the youngest victim. This involved one of the 15 year old boys from the Luzerne County case, as well as a 14 year old. Litz assaulted the boys in the church office and in Litz’s home. The 15 year old boy’s assault happened on two different days in August 1986. The other was for a July 1987 assault on the 14 year old. The police investigation of these cases caused them to discover the Luzerne County cases.

On March 24, 1988 Jerome Cohen, of the District Attorney’s office, requested a mandatory five year prison sentence, which Litz’s attorney claimed went against the plea agreement where he was orally promised that they would not recommend the mandatory prison time. Dennehy filed a motion to have the judge order them to withdraw it. The District Attorney’s office agreed to withdraw the demand.

On May 25, 1988, Ronald Terry Litz was sentenced in Luzerne County to two years minus one day to five years minus two days, with five years of probation to follow. He reported to the jail on May 31. The judge told him, “Your conduct will require confinement for further protection of young children in our community. Your actions have caused grave emotional consequences for the victims. You were an authority figure and took advantage of young children. I’ve considered the impact of public shame and humiliation not only to you but to your wife and family. (But) a lessor sentence would depreciate the seriousness of your crimes.” His time was to be served in the Luzerne County Jail instead of state prison, which is why the five year sentence was made to be minus two days. He also received a concurrent sentence of 11 to 23 months on the five counts of indecent assault. He had faced up to twenty years on each of the felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, as well as a $25,000 fine.

Litz shared that after serving his sentence, he planned to leave Pennsylvania and volunteered to do community service by speaking to high school groups and civic organizations about sexual abuse. For six weeks prior to sentencing (one report stated three months), Litz underwent weekly psychiatric counseling in a Louisiana hospital, where he claimed he “was able to understand [his] problem.” He continued to attend church. Terry Litz’s attorney admitted that Litz had a problem for years and was molested by an older man when he was twelve years old. Litz expressed remorse for his actions to the victims, his “family, community and profession.” Litz shared that his wife left him, but at some point they got back together after he was released from prison. They own a home and have been together in Texas for many years. He first registered as a sex offender in Glenn Heights on October 31, 1999.

I have tried my best to correct my mistake. All I’m asking is that you have mercy on me. – Ronald Terry Litz, convicted pedophile

On June 28, 1988, for the Northumberland County charges, Judge Samuel Ranck sentenced Ronald Terry Litz to six to 23 months on the three counts of corrupting the morals of minors. It was to run consecutive to the Luzerne County sentence, followed by three years of probation. This was to be served in the Northumberland County Jail after his other sentence was completed. Judge Rank felt Litz received a break in the other cases considering the nature of the charges.

Litz claimed he had visited two psychiatrists prior to his arrest as he had been feeling “urges inside.” He said, “I have tried my best to correct my mistake. All I’m asking is that you have mercy on me.” (Where was his mercy toward the boys while repeatedly assaulting them?) Litz’s attorney submitted a letter showing that he had attended more meetings than required by normal therapy. Also submitted were letters in support of Litz, including a therapist who had placed him on Lithium and a pastor in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, where he lived for awhile after his arrest. At that time, there was one United Pentecostal Church in Belle Chasse, an affiliated one where James Comeaux was, and still is, listed as the pastor. (See the June 29, 1988 article, page one and page two, in PDF format.)

It is draining to compose these articles and my heart grieves for the survivors and their families, as well as the family members of these predators who are innocent of wrongdoing. When I read that a predator considered multiple sexual assaults involving three boys as a “mistake,” I could not help but think that this person is not truly remorseful and has not accepted responsibility for their actions. He reminds me of the alleged pedophile, Steven J. Dahl, who wrote on December 9, 2013, “I made a lot of mistakes, that cost me my future as far as being a minister for the organization.” Assaulting anyone isn’t a “mistake,” but a reprehensible criminal act – a devastatingly life-altering violation of an individual. His attorney said that Terry Litz had a problem for years. One can only ask, and wonder, how many victims were there before these three? Are there any from when he was a pastor in Ohio? What about his days at ABI in Minnesota? Have there been any victims since his release? These are questions to which we may never know the answers as all too many assaults go unreported and history has shown that pedophiles repeat their behavior.

Articles:
Scrantonian Tribune: June 29, 1988
Daily Item: September 4, 1987 & May 27, 1988
Citizens’ Voice: May 27, 1988 & June 30, 1988
Danville News: September 15, 1987, March 9, 1988, May 26, 1988 & June 29, 1988
Times Leader: March 9, 1988, March 25, 1988, May 11, 1988, July 1, 1988, October 20, 1987 & October 24, 1987

Texas public Sex Offender Website – (partial screen shot) His information was last verified on January 29, 2024 by the Glenn Heights Police Department.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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This is Part 31 of an ongoing series on sexual abuse in the United Pentecostal Church.

Diego Antonio Rodriguez, born August 13, 1994, was a youth leader at Apostolic Faith Church, a United Pentecostal Church located at 3045 Airline Rd, Racine, WI where James Schumacher, born October 4, 1946, has been the pastor for decades. (new website as Michael Portman became the pastor after this article was written, though Schumacher is still there) Diego Rodriguez didn’t hold license with the UPCI, but he had preached at this church.

On June 11, 2015, he made his first court appearance where he was charged with one count of using a computerized communication system to facilitate a child sex crime (948.075 1r, a Class C felony) and three counts of sexual intercourse with a male child (948.09, Class A misdemeanor). He was 20 years old at the time of the crimes, while his victim, born in November 1998, was 16. This is case 2015CF000730 in Waukesha County. After his arrest, the church quickly scrubbed their website and social media of pictures and mentions of Diego. It is unknown to me how long he had been working with the youth.

Rodriguez met the boy in early 2015 through a phone application called Grindr, a gay social network. He claimed that the boy shared he was 18, but at the first sexual encounter at a home in Waukesha, he discovered he was 16. It happened two additional times at other locations after this, so Rodriguez was aware that a crime was being committed. The victim stated that he was a willing participant and was neither threatened, nor forced.

In April 2015, Rodriguez used Grindr to chat with another boy who was 15-years-old, though this time it was a Waukesha police detective in an undercover sex sting. The online contact continued through June, even though the detective warned him he could go to jail. He requested pictures and let him know he wanted a sexual encounter as well as a “three-way.”

On June 8, Rodriguez asked to meet at the Wendy’s restaurant on Moreland, where police arrested him while he was parked across the street. After the arrest, he admitted to knowing that what was planned was a crime. Prior to his arrest the officer posing as the boy had asked him asked if 15 was too young and if people could be arrested and Rodriguez replied that they could.

He entered an initial plea of not guilty and since his $25,000 bond was never paid, he remained imprisoned.

A trial was eventually scheduled for December 15, 2015, but was cancelled as a plea agreement was in process. On January 22, 2016, Diego Rodriguez changed his plea to that of being guilty on the first count of the charges, which was the felony of using Grindr to facilitate a child sex crime. The three sexual intercourse misdemeanors were dismissed, but read into the court record.

On April 4, 2016, Judge Ralph Ramirez sentenced Diego Rodriguez to ten years, with five of those to be served in prison and five under extended supervision. He was ordered to register as a sex offender through June 3, 2040. He was to have no contact with the victim, nor was he permitted to have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. He is not allowed to have pornographic or explicit material, nor is he allowed to have a computer or anything that can access the Internet unless permission is given. He also had to submit a DNA sample and pay a few hundred dollars in court fees. Rodriguez remains incarcerated as of the writing of this article.

An aspect of this case which is especially troublesome is that on the Fox news report article, a person claiming to be a former member of the church alleged, “The problem is that the pastor did know that this issue existed because, in addition to members bringing rumors to the pastor, Diego himself went to him and admitted it, looking for help. The response was to sweep it under the rug, allow Diego to continue working with the youth, and intimidate everyone into silence. Dig deeper into this church’s history. This isn’t the first time this has happened there and unless someone intervenes, it won’t be the last.”

I had already known years earlier that this wasn’t the first child sex assault case of which Pastor James E. Schumacher has been aware. There were at least two others involving Timothy Patrick Gregory, a previously convicted child sex offender who the pastor allowed to teach Sunday School. He is currently incarcerated. It was alleged that pastor James Schumacher encouraged the parents to not report Gregory and even threatened to excommunicate the family members of the victims, sisters who were ages 12 and 8 at the time of the assaults in 1997. Schumacher admitted to not doing a background check on Gregory and stated, “We are a Christian church. The Bible says we need to forget the past.” James Schumacher, like some other United Pentecostal Church ministers, failed to report these assaults to the police or Child Protective Services. Since the law in Wisconsin allows for the legal loophole of claiming clergy privilege, he was permitted to do this.

Articles:
Waukesha man, a youth leader at a church, accused of having sexual relations with teen boy – July 14, 2015 (includes video)
Police arrest church youth leader after underage sex sting – July 15, 2015 (includes video- click on the watch on mobile link)
Church leader pleads guilty to using app for child sex in Waukesha – January 26, 2016
Church leader pleads guilty to using app for child sex in Waukesha – January 29, 2016
Waukesha man, former church youth leader, gets prison for sex with minor – April 19, 2016
Wisconsin Circuit Court Access
Diego Rodriguez sex offender status

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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